The Astoria

"To my beautiful niece, Miss Astoria Wendall-Jones of whom I am so proud and grateful for, I leave fifty percent ownership of the old movie theatre which she is named after." The white haired gentleman at the front of room intoned without looking up from the paper.

Tears filled my eyes as he revealed what my darling Auntie Adaline had left as my inheritance.

It had been six years since I had last visited my home town of Wynford where The Astoria movie theatre was located but I had fond memories of it as a child. Although it hadn't been a working cinema in awhile it had been used as something of an events space for the local villagers with school discos and book clubs being held there if I remembered rightly.

In the few months since Aunt Addie had passed away I wasn't sure if anyone had checked on it though so that would be first on my list when we finished here.

My fingers curled tightly round the edge of my bag as I waited to see which family member I would be sharing this precious gift with. I wasn't particularly close to any of my cousins and had never encountered any of them, or even heard them mentioned, when I visited Addie in the hospice over the last year. Still I wasn't surprised to see them turn up here as a sea of black clothed people, sniffing into their tissues. Perhaps they hoped their belated interest would result in something in the way of inheritance?

I wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of the notion but now was neither the time or the place for that. Had my mother still been with us I knew she would likely be thinking the same and have had me giggling.

But no such luck. I was alone in the world since Aunt Addie's passing. A fact which I had tried to ignore but had me throwing myself into my work to escape the the crippling loneliness.

My father was the first stolen from me. A drunk driver just two weeks after I came into the world.

My mother never found anyone else, never loved anyone quite so intensely as she had loved him. They had been together pretty much all their lives and cared so deeply for one another that my Mum had never been able to love again.

I was their surprise, their miracle baby, arriving years after they gave up hope. My mother had thought it was the menopause until the doctors told her of my existence. A fact she loved to teasingly remind me of.

Then she was taken from me too. Cancer when I was eighteen. I had always known that my parents being older than most meant I would like lose them sooner but nothing really prepared me for it. If it hadn't been for Aunt Adaline I don't know how I would have made it through that time.

Now she was gone too. I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat and looked carefully around the room. I hoped my Aunt knew what she was doing with whoever would own the other half. Perhaps she had known I was going to be alone and this would be the best parting gift she could give me? I hoped at least.

The man at the front cleared his throat loudly, drawing my attention back to him.

"The remaining fifty percent I leave to Thomas Moore nephew of my dear friend Angela Moore as a thank you for the kindness and companionship they showed me in the years before I was confined to this hospice." The solicitor says slowly.

I blink and glance around at the similarly shocked faces of my relatives. Angela I know was Aunt Addie's neighbour and friend for many years but who on earth is Thomas Moore?

"Wow." Someone at the back whistles and I spin in my seat to face an unfamiliar man.

He's tall, with dark blond hair and a smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose. The navy blue suit he's wearing doesn't really fit properly and he has pushed the sleeves of both the shirt and jacket up, revealing tanned forearms.

His eyes are wide as he processes what was just said and I realise that this must be the mysterious Thomas Moore.

"If you don't mind, I will continue?" The solicitor says in a snooty voice.

"Go right ahead." Thomas replies, leaning back against the door frame, clearly still in shock.

"And finally I leave half of my savings to the be used to repair The Astoria and the other half to Wynford Animal Rescue and Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre."

At this final declaration, all hell breaks loose as more than half of the people there begin to protest being left out despite having had nothing to do with her for years.

I unfold my legs and smooth my fitted pencil skirt before standing and making my way through the rows of arguing men and women to the back of the room.

"Thomas Moore I presume?" I say when I come to a stop in front of him.

"The one and only. Call me Tommy, everyone else does." He straightens up with a grin and offers me a hand to shake.

His hands are warm and callused which tells me he's no stranger to hard work. Something I'm thankful for with the ideas I have in mind for The Astoria.

"You must be Astoria." He says with a grin and I wonder Addie has told him to put that wicked glint in his eye.

"I go by Azzy and how did you guess?" I reply with a small prim smile.

"Well aside from all the pictures she had of you in her home, we actually met when we were young." He replies, grin widening more than I thought possible.

"When?" I frown, trying to place him but coming up blank.

"I was ten and I think you were eight, I shot you over the garden fence with my water pistol and you screamed that I had ruined your wedding." He says, eyes sparkling with amusement.

The ghost of a memory swirls at the back of my mind and I remember how he stuck his tongue out and shot again making me shriek and run inside.

"I remember. It wasn't my wedding, it was my dolls." I correct, cheeks flushing with embarrassment as I realise that doesn't actually sound any less strange.

He chuckles and then reaches out to grab my hand and raises it to his lips to kiss, "My most sincere apologies for ruining the nuptials."

I roll my eyes and reluctantly pull my hand from his. It's been awhile since I had any human contact that wasn't a business like handshake and my hand tingles at the contact of his lips.

"You are forgiven. Now what do you say to us retrieving the keys and making our way to check on The Astoria?" I ask.

I note that his brows pinch in a look that's almost concern. "How long has it been since you last saw it?"

"Oh I haven't been back to Wynford in years so while." I wave my hand dismissively, "But how much can it have changed in that time?"

"I think you should prepare yourself then." He says slowly, placing a comforting hand on my arm.

"Why?" My heart is pounding in my chest at both his nearness and the fear of what he's suggesting.

Aunt Adaline loved that place, I can imagine it would have become too much of a wreck.

"Let's just say we are definitely going to need the money Adaline left to make it close to habitable again." He shoots me a reassuring smile, "I know we are more than capable of turning it around."

I process this piece of news as I do everything. Logically. "Ok, let's check it over and then we can sit and review what we think we should do with it. Once we know that I can build a business plan and we can work out a timeline for repair work." I reply calmly.

"Ah yes, business plans and timelines." Tommy laughs, "I was going to ask what your hopes and dreams were for it but that sounds much more professional."

I blink at his teasing tone. It has been awhile since anyone was this playful with me and I'm not entirely sure how to react to it.

"So what do you do for work Thomas?" I ask as we make our way out to the foyer where the clamouring of my relatives isn't quite so loud.

"It's Tommy, and I work in...landscaping. I'm a gardener." He says with the same easy smile.

"Oh that sounds lovely." I try to smile in return but it doesn't feel quite right on my face. I know my employees call me the ice queen when they think I'm out of earshot and I half-wonder if they might be right. I don't think I remember how to truly relax and let loose, I haven't had the opportunity to for years.

"How about you? What do you do?" He asks, leaning in and I begin to wonder if he ever stops grinning.

His smile is entirely inappropriate for attending a reading of a will but I feel myself warming a little to it nonetheless.

"I run an event company, Astoria Events."

He raises his eyebrows, "Well certainly sounds like you've progressed some since your dolls wedding that I naughtily interrupted."

His tone and smile are teasing but I still feel myself smiling in return. "I suppose I have."

"Miss Wendall-Jones and Mr Moore?" A plump woman in a smart grey pant suit interrupts us and we both refocus on her.

"If you'd like to follow me, we have some paperwork to go through regarding your inheritance and how Ms Wendall wishes for it to be used." She beckons us to follow her.

Tommy and I exchange a look of surprise and I'm relieved to see he is as confused as I am as we follow her to a small office.